Big data can help employees address customer concerns more effectively

Companies are currently working to empower their employees with access to valuable information so they can tap that data to make better decisions, according to a recent survey of executives worldwide conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Alteryx. Despite the advances they have already made in their big data strategies, 77 percent of companies said they needed more content in order to truly make better decisions.

When deployed with specific goals at the outset and filtered through the proper structure and data quality measures, big data plans can help companies respond quickly, or even preemptively, to a number of concerns, including customer service queries.

"Big data is extremely valuable to companies looking to solve their immediate decision-making challenges," said Rick Schultz, senior vice president of marketing at Alteryx. "Delivering the right data to the right decision maker in a way they can understand ... is crucial, and companies need to make this easier in order to get maximum value from big data."

This could become especially helpful in call centers, according to IT World. Many consumers report growing disdain with these customer service lines, which have been turned into sales channels rather than solution centers. These outlets could be vastly improved if companies took advantage of the data that's already being generated, so they can see which products clients have purchased and the duration of their relationships with the brand as those individuals call.